What is supply management?
Supply management is a marketing system where producers control the production (supply) of a particular commodity (product). The basic idea behind supply management is to make sure domestic demand is met, while ensuring a reasonable return for producers and stable prices for consumers. Through a federal-provincial agreement, national and provincial agencies jointly exercise the authority to determine the amount of commodity which may be produced.

What is a marketing board?
A marketing board (also called a commodity board) coordinates the marketing of farm products within the province, and is created through provincial legislation. Marketing boards help farmers develop new markets, monitor and improve the quality of their products, and increase productivity through research and the promotion of new production and management techniques.

There are more than 100 marketing boards in Canada, each with different powers and roles. Each provincial marketing board is supervised by a provincial supervisory board.

What is a quota?
A quota is the volume of product that a producer is entitled to market during a specified period of time.

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What is a levy?
A levy is an amount of money paid by producers to a provincial board or national agency to support their administrative and marketing operations. Levies may be assessed in a number of ways, including:

• The volume of product marketed;
• The value of the product marketed; or
• The number of hectares in production.

What is a marketing agency?
A marketing agency regulates the marketing of farm products inter-provincially and internationally, and is created through federal legislation. Marketing agencies establish and allocate quota, promote products, raise funds through levies, and license marketers.

Four national marketing agencies have been established since 1972:

• The Canadian Egg Marketing Agency
• The Canadian Turkey Marketing Agency
• Chicken Farmers of Canada
• The Canadian Broiler Hatching Egg Marketing Agency.

They are all supervised by the National Farm Products Council.

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How is a new agency established?
The initiative for creating a new agency comes from the farmers, who prepare a proposal setting out the terms and conditions under which the agency would operate. The proposal is then submitted to the NFPC, which conducts public hearings to determine the merits of establishing the agency. The Council must satisfy itself that a majority of producers of the product support the proposal, and based on the submissions at the hearings, must recommend to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food whether or not to proceed.

If the Council recommends that the agency be established and the Minister agrees, the Minister recommends that the Governor-in-Council (Cabinet) establish the agency by proclamation. The proclamation, which is a federal government regulation, sets out the powers conferred on the agency, as well as the terms of the marketing plan which the agency is authorized to implement.

What is a promotion-research agency?
Promotion-research agencies are national or regional bodies which are entitled to collect levies on one or more regulated farm products in order to fund research or generic advertising of the product. These agencies have the authority to impose levies on imports, exports and product marketed in inter-provincial trade, but they have no supply management powers. The agencies may undertake such activities as primary production research, new product development, advertising and promotion, nutritional research, and consumer education. No promotion-research agencies have been established to date.

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How is a promotion-research agency established?
The initiative for forming a promotion-research agency comes from the producers of a particular commodity, in much the same way as when a marketing agency is established. The sponsoring group must design a promotion-research plan which would operate within the legal framework of the Farm Products Agencies Act, and submit it to the NFPC. The NFPC then looks into the merits of establishing the agency, holds at least one public hearing, makes certain that a majority of producers is in favour, and recommends to the Minister of Agriculture whether or not to proceed. If all goes well, the Minister then advises Council to negotiate a federal-provincial agreement with the provincial signatories. Once the agreement is signed, Cabinet proclaims the establishment of a promotion-research agency.